


Take the yeses, what comes between doesn't matter

by Galadriel1010



Series: Birthday Prompts [30]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Love Triangles, Other, Polyamory, River Song is Complicated, Threesome - F/F/F, Time Travelling Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26211532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: The Doctor calls on River and her wife, and takes them away with her for a short trip. They stay, then they leave, then they fall in love.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, The Doctor/River Song/Original Female Character(s), Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Series: Birthday Prompts [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862779
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Take the yeses, what comes between doesn't matter

It was another of those fancy conferences with canapés and tall flutes of sparkling wine, and an artfully displayed bowl of fruit that was being largely ignored in favour of the tiny cakes. The Doctor fished through the bowl to find the right pear, then slid through the crowd as she took absent-minded bites. People mostly ignored her, caught up in their own conversations about the talks and seminars they’d attended, and she made her way through to where River was chatting with a small group. She was wearing a dress instead of the suit she’d worn for her talk. River always did like a dress. The woman next to her rested her hand on River’s arm and laughed at something she’d said, and when the other two drifted away the Doctor she sidled up to take their place.

“Brilliant talk,” she said, ignoring the frustrated looks River and her friend gave her. “Not many people pick up on the missing half of the village and its significance. Or the Catharan invasion, for that matter. It made quite a mess but of course that storm erased most of the evidence.”

River smiled back at her, but her friend frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met. You’re an archaeologist?”

“Oh, sometimes,” she agreed. “I dabble. I’m the Doctor.”

Recognition, and with it alarm, dawned. River stepped forwards between them. “Hello Sweetie, lovely to see you as always.” She looked at the other woman and smiled reassuringly. “This is Doctor Amala Garas. My wife.”

“You’re River’s wife?” the Doctor asked, delighted. “Me too!”

###

“What are we doing here?” Amala asked in a hiss. “What does she want?”

“I don’t know, but it should be fun.” River glanced at her. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

She huffed. “Well… Look, I know I knew she existed, but knowing and understanding are different things. I just… I never thought I’d actually meet her. Or even that she’s a her!”

“She isn’t always. That’s not a problem, is it?”

“No,” she sighed. “It’s not. It’s just unexpected. I thought maybe she’d come round for dinner, not appear in the middle of a conference.”

River laughed. “Oh. No, no, she’s not like that. Although I wouldn’t put her past just moving in with us out of the blue. She did it to my parents once.”

Amala pinched the bridge of her nose with the hand that River wasn’t holding. “There are so many questions I’m not asking.” She sighed. “But what are we doing here?”

“Whatever you like.” They had reached a tall blue box with the word ‘Police’ over the door and, for some reason, stopped. The Doctor was leaning against it with a grin on her face, and River looked just as excited. “Which of your sites would you most like to see first hand?”

She wanted to ask if this was a joke, but she’d known River too long. They were both watching her, so she licked her lips and picked. “Not one of mine, but… Skara Brae?”

The Doctor pushed the door open and beckoned. “Great choice. They make the best mead.”

Amala stared at the open door as the Doctor disappeared through it. “Is it some sort of portal?”

“Nope. Go on, you’ll see.”

She went on. Her jaw, she was vaguely aware, dropped. River’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind and her hands came up to cling to her. “It’s… how does it do that? Are we in a pocket dimension or temporal funnel. Or is it…” River’s lips, laughing, pressed against her throat and she swallowed hard. “It’s bigger on the inside.”

“Those are the magic words.” The Doctor pulled on a lever and grinned over at her. “So, Skara Brae Doctor Amala?”

“Yes please.”

###

They visited Skara Brae and ate freshly caught fish on the beach with their hosts, watching the sun set across the calm sea. The next day they were running for their lives from giant lizards in an alien rainforest. The day after that they had tea with the Great Detective and her wife in her club in Victorian London. They came with them to Vietnam in 2240 for lunch on Halong Bay, then got dropped off back in London to investigate a grisly murder. The Doctor offered her services and blew up a mill.

Amala sat on the hilltop overlooking the city with ash drifting down around them Vastra and Jenny on her left, River’s head on her shoulder to her right, and the Doctor checking over the would-be-victim, and sighed. “I think I love her,” she admitted.

“Yes. She has that effect on people,” Vastra agreed. She looked down at Jenny hurriedly. “Not like…”

“I know,” Jenny assured her.

Amala wasn’t sure about herself.

###

“So why are you on your own anyway?” River asked. “You know it’s not good for you.”

“I’m not,” the Doctor protested. “I have you two.”

She snorted. “You were, though. Don’t play the idiot, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Oh. I wasn’t, not really. I’ve got my crew, they’re just… Having a break.” She held the wrench out to Amala and reached back under the console. “Thought I’d drop in and see how you were doing, remembered that you had that talk. Sort of kidnapped you.”

Amala laughed. “I thought River was doing the kidnapping.”

“Bit of that too.” The Doctor pulled herself out and leaned against the console to look at them. “I just do what she tells me to.”

“Me too.”

River snorted. “Yeah right.” She didn’t nag about the Doctor travelling alone though, so she must have been satisfied. “Where are we going for dinner tonight?”

###

They lay in bed that night, in a room River had found down a corridor that had just appeared. It was deep and warm, and River’s skin was soft against hers. Her finger trailed between River’s breasts, following the path her mouth had taken not long before, and then she pressed her hand flat on her stomach. “I love you,” she whispered against her shoulder. “I think I love her too.”

“Yes. That happens.”

“Is it really that simple?”

“Nothing with the Doctor is simple. But yes.”

Amala pressed against her and slid her hand down to River’s side. “Would she join us?”

“We can ask. She might not understand the question, though.”

###

She didn’t at first. Then she did. She was curious and enthusiastic, and an amazing kisser. Talked too much, but so generous in everything. There was wonder in her eyes when she looked at Amala, the same as when she watched a supernova or encountered a new civilisation for the first time. Sometimes it was daunting. Sometimes it was thrilling. Realising she could be something new and marvellous to this amazing woman.

The Doctor slept rarely, but better with them than without, she said. She was like an octopus in her sleep. Amala didn’t mind.

“We can’t stay forever,” River told her quietly. “She’ll want to save something.”

Amala said she understood. She didn’t say she liked it.

###

They went home for a break, and stayed. The Doctor wrote from time to time, postcards from across time and space. Then River left, years after but still too soon. Neither of them could be tied down. Amala heard from her from time to time, or at least of her. Other wives and husbands, prestigious publications, explosions. She never remarried herself. She’d had two loves, no one else came close to either

The Doctor came to her later, after River. They travelled together again, just like old times but not. Found a different bed and caught up on lost sleep. It was too big for two people.

“I miss her,” the Doctor said, and “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Amala said.

###

They picked up the message a week later, when they were drinking tea and watching planets being born from stars. Followed it to a prison drifting into a black hole, towed it back out, freed the prisoners. Found out why some of them were imprisoned. Escaped, just. Kissed, laughing breathlessly, in the sanctuary of a dead end. Escaped again.

River was leaning against the TARDIS, trying to look annoyed. Failing. “What time do you call this?” She grinned. “Hello Sweetie. Hello love.”

Amala kissed her and the world righted itself at last. “Welcome home, darling. Can you stay?”

“Yes.” She reached out for the Doctor and pulled them both into the TARDIS. “This time, for now, yes.”

Amala took the yeses, and ignored what came between them. They were enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Tempted to return to this one as well


End file.
